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DECISION No

DECISION No. 280/1999/QD-BTP OF SEPTEMBER 27, 1999 PROMULGATING THE REGULATION ON THE EVALUATION OF BILLS AND DRAFT LEGAL DOCUMENTS

THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE

Pursuant to Article 16 of the Law on the Promulgation of Legal Documents;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 101-CP of September 23, 1997 detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on the Promulgation of Legal Documents;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 15-CP of March 2, 1993 on the State management tasks, powers and responsibilities of the ministries and ministerial-level agencies;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 38-CP of June 4, 1993 on the functions, tasks, powers and organization of the Ministry of Justice;

At the proposal of the Director of the Department for Criminal-Administrative Legislation,

DECIDES:

Article 1.- To issue together with this Decision the Regulation on the evaluation of bills and draft legal documents.

Article 2.- This Decision takes effect 15 days after its signing.

Article 3.- The Ministry’s leadership and the heads of the units under the Ministry shall, within the ambit of their functions, tasks and powers, have to implement this Decision.

Minister of Justice

NGUYEN DINH LOC

REGULATION ON THE EVALUATION OF BILLS AND DRAFT LEGAL DOCUMENTS

(issued together with Decision No. 280/1999/QD-BTP of September 27, 1999 of the Minister of Justice)

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1.- Evaluation of bills and draft legal documents

Evaluation of bills and draft legal documents (hereinafter collectively referred to as bills and drafts) means the studying, examining and evaluating of bills and drafts in terms of their forms and contents in order to ensure their constitutionality, legality, consistency and synchronicity in the current legal system and at the same time make comments on their enforceability.

The evaluation of bills and drafts must ensure the quality requirements and strictly comply with the order, procedures and time limit stipulated in the Government’s Decree No. 101-CP of September 23, 1997 detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on the Promulgation of Legal Documents, and with the provisions of this Regulation.

Article 2.- The Regulation’s scope of regulation

1. This Regulation specifies the order and procedures for evaluating the following bills and drafts:

a/ Bills and draft ordinances submitted by the Government to the National Assembly or the Standing Committee of the National Assembly;

b/ Bills and draft ordinances submitted by other agencies, organizations and National Assembly deputies to the National Assembly or the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, on which the Government has the responsibility to give its written comments;

c/ Draft resolutions and decrees submitted to the Government.

2. This Regulation also lays down the order and procedures for the contribution of comments on the Prime Minister’s draft decisions and directives.

Article 3.- Responsibility for the evaluation work

1. The Minister shall take the overall responsibility and organize the evaluation of bills and drafts to ensure the evaluation quality and the time limit as prescribed in the Law on the Promulgation of Legal Documents, the Government’s Decree No. 101-CP of September 23, 1997 and this Regulation.

2. The Vice-Ministers shall assist the Minister by taking charge of the evaluation work in the different fields as assigned by the Minister. When evaluating bills or drafts which involve complicated matters related to mechanisms and/or policies not yet prescribed by law and other important matters on which the Ministry’s or the branch’s viewpoints should be expressed, the Vice-Ministers must report them to the Minister and ask for his/her directions.

3. The standing Vice-Minister shall assume the overall responsibility for the evaluation work when the Minister is absent; the settlement of issues related to the evaluation shall be assigned to another Vice-Minister when the standing Vice-Minister is absent.

Article 4.- Principles for assignment of the evaluation

1. The Minister and Vice-Ministers (hereinafter referred to as the Ministry’s leadership) shall assign one or several units to evaluate a bill or draft. In cases where several units are assigned the evaluation one of them shall be appointed to take the prime responsibility for the evaluation while other units shall coordinate with it in the evaluation. Units that are assigned to coordinate in the evaluation shall have to join with the unit with the prime evaluating responsibility.

2. In case of necessity, the Ministry’s leadership shall decide to set up the evaluation council to evaluate a bill or draft.

Article 5.- Contents of evaluation

The contents of evaluation of a bill or draft shall include:

1. The necessity to issue the document;

2. The object and scope of regulation;

3. Its accordance with the Party’s line and policies;

4. Its constitutionality, legality, consistency and synchronicity in the current legal system as well as its enforceability;

5. Its conformity with the international agreements which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has signed or acceded to;

6. Drafting techniques and legal language used in the bill or draft;

7. The plan to deal with matters on which opinions remain divergent.

Article 6.- Ensuring the evaluation work

During the process of evaluating a bill or draft the head of the unit assigned to assume the prime evaluating responsibility shall have to promptly report to the Ministry’s leadership on matters which need their directions.

The heads of the units under the Ministry shall, within the scope of their functions, tasks and powers, have to arrange their personnel, ensure the conditions regarding the funding, means, information and other documents necessary for the evaluation.

The evaluation funding shall be managed and used according to current provisions of law.

Chapter II

ORDER AND PROCEDURES FOR EVALUATING BILLS AND DRAFTS

Section I. RECEIPT OF DOSSIERS AND ASSIGNMENT OF THE EVALUATION

Article 7.- Evaluation dossiers

1. Dossiers on bills or drafts sent for evaluation by ministries, ministerial-level agencies and agencies attached to the Government which have the prime drafting responsibility (hereinafter referred to as evaluation dossiers) include:

a/ A written request for evaluation;

b/ A report to the Government on the bill or draft signed by the minister, head of the ministerial-level agency or head of the agency attached to the Government and stamped;

c/ The final bill or draft decided by the drafting agency to be submitted to the Government for consideration;

d/ A summary of the ministries’ and branches’ comments on the bill or draft;

e/ An detailed exposition on the bill or draft as well as draft documents guiding the implementation of such bill or draft (if any).

The number of copies of each paper mentioned at Points b, c, d and e of this Clause is 10.

2. Evaluation dossiers for bills and draft ordinances drafted by other agencies, organizations and National Assembly deputies and sent by the Government Office for evaluation include:

a/ A written request for evaluation;

b/ A report on the bill or draft ordinance;

c/ The bill or draft ordinance;

d/ Relevant documents (if any).

Article 8.- Receipt of evaluation dossiers

1. The Ministry’s Office shall have to receive and check the validity of evaluation dossiers.

2. The director of the Ministry’s Office may, by order of the Minister, sign an official dispatch to ask the evaluation-requesting agency to supplement the dossier if it lacks any of the papers mentioned in Article 7 of this Regulation.

3. Within four working hours at most after receipt of the dossier, the Ministry’s Office shall have to record such in the "evaluation dossiers monitoring register" and submit it to the Ministry’s leadership together with the evaluation-instructing card.

Article 9.- Assignment of the evaluation

The Ministry’s leadership shall assign units to evaluate the bills and drafts according to the principle that each unit shall have the prime responsibility for evaluating bills and drafts with the contents relating to the fields under its management. In cases where a bill or draft has contents related to several fields, the Ministry’s leadership shall assign one unit to take the prime responsibility for the evaluation and other concerned units to join in the evaluation.

The evaluation assignment must be effected within eight working hours at most from the time the Ministry’s leadership receives the evaluation dossiers.

Article 10.- Transfer of evaluation dossiers and making recommendations on the evaluation assignment

1. Within two working hours at most after the Ministry’s leadership assigns the evaluation, the Minister’s secretary or Vice Minister’s assistant expert shall have to transfer the dossier and the evaluation-instructing card to the Ministry’s Office.

2. Within two working hours at most after receiving the dossier and the evaluation-instructing card the Ministry’s Office shall have to record it in the monitoring register and send the dossier and the evaluation-instructing card to the units assigned with the evaluation. Upon receiving the dossier, the representative of the unit assigned with the evaluation shall sign for the receipt in the monitoring register.

3. In cases where the head of the unit assigned with the prime evaluating responsibility deems that the evaluation assignment is unsuitable or needs coordination in the evaluation, he/she shall propose to the Ministry’s leadership to adjust the evaluation assignment.

In case of necessity the head of the unit assigned with the prime evaluating responsibility shall report and seek the Ministry’s leadership’s instructions on the invitation of lawyers, scientists and specialists knowledgeable of specialized matters in the bill or draft under evaluation.

Section 2. ORGANIZATION OF STUDY AND EVALUATION AT THE UNITS UNDER THE MINISTRY

Article 11.- Organization of study and participation in drafting bills and drafts in service of the evaluation

1. Units under the Ministry with the law-making and study function shall have to organize their study groups according to the specialized or legal fields assigned to them for management and supervision; each group must be directly led by a leading official of the unit and comprised of a reasonable number of experts, ensuring that there must be collective exchange of ideas and discussion as well as mutual assistance within each group in the study, drafting, deliberation and evaluation of bills and drafts.

2. For every bill or draft the unit is assigned by the Ministry’s leadership to participate in its drafting together with the agency with the prime drafting responsibility, the head of the unit must assign one of its leading officials to personally take charge of the participation and a group of at least two experts to join right from the beginning with the agency with the prime responsibility for drafting the bill or draft.

The head of the unit shall be answerable to the Ministry’s leadership for all bills and drafts assigned to his/her unit for study and preparation.

Article 12.- Study and participation in drafting bills and drafts

1. Those leading officials of units who are assigned to personally take charge and those experts who are assigned to study and participate in drafting bills and drafts shall have to take initiative in drawing up their own plans, collect relevant materials and legal documents, organize the study and regularly keep contact with the agency with the prime drafting responsibility and other concerned agencies in order to know the drafting program and tempo as well as other contents related to the drafting of documents.

2. The heads of the units shall have to firmly grasp the situation and tempo of the study and participation in the drafting, give timely instructions for solution of problems arising in the process of the study and participation in the drafting, and every three months report to the Ministry’s leadership on the results of the drafting of bills and drafts.

Article 13.- Preparations for meetings to contribute comments on bills and drafts and reporting on the results of these meetings

1. When being invited to attend a meeting with the agency which assumes the prime drafting responsibility to contribute comments on the drafting of a bill or draft to, the unit’s leadership and experts’ group assigned to participate in the meeting must study the bill or draft and, in case of necessity, seek the Ministry’s leadership’s instructions before attending such meeting. When attending the meeting, the representatives of the unit’s leadership may present opinions in the name of the Justice Ministry and shall have to report on the results of the meeting to the Minister or Vice-Minister in charge.

2. If an expert is assigned by the unit’s leadership to attend the meeting, he/she shall have to study, prepare comments and report to the unit’s leadership for instructions before attending the meeting, and may present opinions in the name of the Justice Ministry; in case of a sudden meeting, the expert has no time to seek the unit’s leadership’s instructions, he/she shall only be allowed to present opinions in his/her own name.

After each meeting the participating expert shall have to report to the unit’s leadership on the meeting contents and opinions presented at the meeting. In case of necessity, the head of the unit must report and seek the Ministry’s leadership’s instructions on major issues of the bill or draft on which opinions remain divergent.

Article 14.- Organization of the evaluation of bills and drafts

1. After receiving an evaluation dossier from the Ministry’s Office, the head of the unit assigned with the prime evaluating responsibility shall have to assign one of the unit’s leading officials and the experts’ group to study and prepare for the evaluation in which the expert who has personally participated in drafting the bill or draft shall be appointed the rapporteur.

2. For a bill or draft with some unclear details or with matters on which opinions remain divergent, the head of the unit assigned with the prime evaluating responsibility shall take initiative in contacting and requesting the agency with the prime evaluating responsibility to expound on the bill or draft or to supply additional information and materials related to the bill or draft; in case of necessity he/she may propose to the Ministry’s leadership to hold a joint meeting with the participation of the representatives of the agency with the prime drafting responsibility and other concerned ministries and agencies to discuss and exchange ideas on major controversial matters before making an evaluation report.

3. The head of the unit assigned to join in the evaluation shall have to organize the study of the bill or draft within his/her unit and send written comments to the unit with the prime evaluating unit within five days at most after receiving the evaluation dossier; for a bill or draft ordinance stipulated at Point b, Clause 1, Article 2 of this Regulation, the time limit for sending evaluation comments shall be three days at most after the evaluation dossier is received.

Article 15.- The evaluation meetings

1. The leadership of the unit assigned with the prime evaluating responsibility shall organize an evaluation meeting with the participation of experts assigned to study and prepare for the evaluation. Depending on the nature of the bill or draft under evaluation, the unit’s leadership may ask other experts in the study group or the entire unit to participate in the evaluation meeting.

In cases where several units are assigned with the evaluation or lawyers, scientists and/or specialists are invited to participate in the evaluation, the unit with the prime evaluating responsibility may invite representatives of the units joining in the evaluation, lawyers, scientists and consultants to participate in the meeting.

2. An evaluation meeting shall be conducted in the following order:

a/ A leading official of the unit with the prime evaluating responsibility declares the reason for the meeting;

b/ The rapportuer provides information related to the bill or draft, presents his/her opinions on the issues to be evaluated;

c/ The participants discuss and give comments, focusing on the matters specified in Article 5 of this Regulation;

d/ The leading official of the unit with the prime evaluating responsibility makes conclusion.

The rapporteur shall have to record the minutes of the evaluation meeting. The minutes must include all comments made during the meeting and signed by the head of the unit with the prime evaluating responsibility. Where a unit joining in the evaluation has opinions different from those of the unit with the prime evaluating responsibility, such opinions must also be clearly recorded in the minutes.

Article 16.- Preparation and submission of the draft evaluation reports

1. On the basis of the minutes of the evaluation meeting, the rapporteur shall have to prepare a draft evaluation report.

In the course of preparing the draft evaluation report, if any problem arises, it must be promptly reported by the leadership of the unit with the prime evaluating responsibility to the Ministry’s leadership for instructions.

Within 10 days at most after receipt of the evaluation dossier, the unit with the prime evaluating responsibility shall have to complete the draft evaluation report; for a bill or draft ordinance specified at Point b, Clause 1, Article 2 of this Regulation, the time limit for the unit with the prime evaluating responsibility to complete the draft evaluation report shall be no more than six days from the time it receives the evaluation dossier.

2. When submitting the draft evaluation report the head of the unit assigned with the prime evaluating responsibility shall have to initial in the draft evaluation report and report the Ministry’s leadership on the opinions of the units joining in the evaluation which are not accepted.

Section 3. ORGANIZATION OF THE EVALUATION IN CASES WHERE AN EVALUATION COUNCIL IS SET UP

Article 17.- The composition of the evaluation council

The composition of the evaluation council determined in the decision on the setting up of the council, includes the chairman, members and the rapporteur who is a departmental-level official of the unit assigned with the prime responsibility for or join in drafting the bill or draft. For a bill or draft for which the Justice Ministry assumes the prime drafting responsibility for the evaluation council must consist of representatives of the Government Office and concerned ministries and branches.

The Ministry’s Office shall have to send copies of the decision on the setting up of the evaluation council together with the evaluation dossier to every member of the council.

Article 18.- The evaluation meeting of the evaluation council

1. The meeting to evaluate a bill or draft shall be convened and chaired by the chairman of the evaluation council. A representative(s) of the agency with the prime drafting responsibility shall be invited to attend the evaluation meeting of the evaluation council.

2. The evaluation meeting shall be conducted in the following order:

a/ The chairman of the evaluation council declares the reason for the meeting;

b/ The rapporteur provides information related to the bill or draft, and highlights matters on which opinions remain divergent;

c/ The evaluation council members discuss, focusing on the matters specified in Article 5 of this Regulation;

d/ The council votes on each kind of issues specified in the evaluation report form.

The rapporteur shall have to record the minutes of the evaluation council’s meeting. The minutes must include all comments made during the meeting and signed by the chairman of the evaluation council. Those opinions approved by more than half of the council members present shall be considered those of the council; those matters that have not yet been unanimously agreed by the council must be also recorded in the meeting’s minutes.

Article 19.- Preparation and submission of the draft evaluation report of the evaluation council

On the basis of the minutes of the evaluation meeting of the evaluation council, the rapporteur shall have to prepare a draft evaluation report to be submitted to the Ministry’s leadership for consideration and decision.

The dossier submitted to the Ministry’s leadership for consideration and decision must include the minutes of the evaluation council’s meeting.

Section 4. SIGNING AND SENDING THE EVALUATION REPORTS AND ARCHIVING THE EVALUATION DOSSIERS

Article 20.- Considering and signing the evaluation reports

1. The Ministry’s leadership shall consider the draft evaluation reports prescribed in Article 16 of this Regulation and give instructions on matters that need to be revised. In case of necessity the Ministry’s leadership shall personally work with the leadership and experts of the unit assigned the evaluation.

The evaluation report shall be signed by the Ministry’s leadership within three days after it is submitted by the unit with the prime evaluating responsibility; for bills and draft ordinances specified at Point b, Clause 1, Article 2 of this Regulation, the time limit for the Ministry’s leadership to sign the evaluation report shall be no more than two days after it is submitted by the unit with the prime evaluating responsibility.

2. The Ministry’s leadership shall consider the draft evaluation report of the evaluation council prescribed in Article 19 of this Regulation and give instructions on matters that need to be revised.

The evaluation report of the evaluation council shall be signed by the Ministry’s leadership within five days at most before the Government meets.

Article 21.- Sending the evaluation report

The unit with the prime evaluating responsibility or the rapporteur of the evaluation council shall have to send the original of the evaluation reports to the Justice Ministry’s Office which shall duplicate it and send its copies to the Government Office and the agency with the prime drafting responsibility according to the time limit prescribed in Article 26 of Decree No. 101-CP of September 23, 1997 of the Government.

The evaluation report must be sent to the Ministry’s leadership for monitoring and kept at the unit with the prime evaluating responsibility, the Ministry’s Office and recorded in the evaluation dossiers-monitoring register of the Ministry’s Office.

Article 22.- Archiving the evaluation dossiers

1. The evaluation dossier and the minutes of the evaluation meeting, the evaluation report and other relevant materials shall be kept at the unit with the prime evaluating responsibility.

2. The head of the unit with the prime evaluating responsibility shall have to organize the archiving and preservation of dossiers and materials mentioned in Clause 1 of this Article at his/her unit, ensuring convenience for the research and reference work when necessary.

Chapter III

THE ORDER AND PROCEDURES FOR CONTRIBUTING COMMENTS ON DRAFT DECISIONS AND DIRECTIVES OF THE PRIME MINISTER

Article 23.- Receipt of dossiers of draft decisions and directives

1. The Ministry’s Office shall receive and check the validity of dossiers of draft decisions and directives (hereinafter collectively referred to as drafts) sent for comments. Such a dossier includes:

a/ A written request for comments;

b/ A report to the Prime Minister on the draft, which is signed by the Minister, the head of the ministerial-level agency or by the head of the agency attached to the Government and stamped;

c/ The draft to be submitted by decision of the drafting agency to the Prime Minister for consideration;

d/ A summary of the ministries’ and branches’ comments on the draft.

The number of copies of each paper mentioned at Points b, c and d of this Clause is 5.

2. The director of the Ministry’s Office may sign, by order of the Minister, an official dispatch to request the agency with the prime drafting responsibility to supplement the dossier if it lacks one of the documents specified in Clause 1 of this Article.

3. The valid dossier shall be recorded in the monitoring register of the Ministry’s Office and submitted to the Ministry’s leadership together with the card directing the contribution of comments within no more than four working hours after it is received.

Article 24.- Assignment of responsibility to contribute comments and transfer of the dossiers

The order and time limit for the assignment of responsibility to contribute comments and the transfer of the dossier sent for comments shall comply with Article 9 and Article 10 of this Regulation.

Article 25.- Organization of the contribution of comments

1. The head of the agency which is assigned the prime responsibility for the contribution of comments shall have to organize the study and the contribution of comments on the draft regarding the necessity, the subjects and the scope of regulation of the document, its constitutionality, legality, consistency and synchronicity in the legal system as well as its enforceability.

2. The organization of the study and contribution of comments shall comply with the provisions in Articles 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 of this Regulation.

3. Within no more than two days after receiving the dossier, the unit assigned to join in the contribution of comments shall send written comments to the unit with the prime responsibility for the contribution of comments.

4. In case of necessity the head of the unit with the prime responsibility for the contribution of comments may organize a meeting with representatives of the agencies assigned to join the contribution of comments on the draft to discuss matters within the content and scope that need comments.

Article 26.- Preparation of official dispatches on contributed comments

The unit with the prime responsibility for the contribution of comments shall have to prepare an official dispatch on contributed comments on the draft and submit it to the Ministry’s leadership within no more than four days after it receives the dossier of the draft.

The unit with the prime responsibility for the contribution of comments shall revise the official dispatch as directed by the Ministry’s leadership and re-submit it for signing within no more than one day after it receives the instructions of the Ministry’s leadership.

Article 27.- Sending the official dispatch on contributed comments and archiving the dossiers on the contribution of comments

1. After the Ministry’s leadership signs the official dispatch on contributed comments on the draft, the unit with the prime responsibility for the contribution of comments shall send it to the Ministry’s Office which shall duplicate it and send its copies to the agency with the prime drafting responsibility and the Government Office.

The official dispatch on contributed comments must be sent to the Ministry’s leadership for monitoring and kept at the unit with the prime responsibility for the contribution of comments, the Ministry’s Office and recorded in the monitoring register of the Ministry’s Office.

2. The dossier of the contribution of comments shall be kept at the unit with the prime responsibility for the contribution of comments according to the provisions in Article 22 of this Regulation.

Chapter IV

IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS

Article 28.- Ensuring information, documents and material conditions in service of the evaluation

1. The heads of the units under the Ministry shall, within the scope of their functions and tasks, have to supply information and documents related to the to-be-evaluated bills and drafts at the request of the unit assigned with the prime evaluating responsibility.

2. Apart from the responsibility defined in Clause 1 of this Regulation, the director of the Jurisprudence Research Institution under the Justice Ministry shall also have to meet the needs of the units assigned to evaluate bills or drafts in the exploitation and use of the legal documents and data bases of Vietnam and foreign countries in direct service of the evaluation.

3. The Ministry’s Office shall have the responsibility:

a/ To organize the receipt and examination of dossiers of bills and drafts sent for evaluation; direct the duplication of dossiers, official dispatches and documents at the request of the units assigned to make the evaluation; organize the sending, archiving and preservation of the evaluation official dispatches and dossiers.

b/ To ensure the funding, meet the requirements on the material conditions in service of the evaluation, arrange meeting halls, print the evaluation-instructing cards, supply stationery items and other necessary means for the evaluation work according to the provisions of law and suitable to the actual conditions of the Justice Ministry.

Article 29.- Commendation and handling of violations

1. Officials and employees who make achievements in the evaluation work shall be commended and/or rewarded by the Justice Minister according to the provisions of law.

2. Officials and employees who violate the provisions of this Regulation shall, depending on the nature and seriousness of the violations, be disciplined according to the provisions of law.-